The Secrets of Castle Fairfax
by Tinalbion
Summary: The reign of a tyrant ends, the world is once again peaceful, but now there is a new danger slowly presenting itself among the soils of Albion. An unsuspecting girl stumbles upon dark forces she would never understand, but in time, it seeps into her mind and consumes her soul. What will she do with these newfound powers of darkness?


**Chapter 1**

say once you die, you can never come back, and you're gone for good from this world. There are many who do not believe such things, and have many theories that one could possibly cheat death, especially in the time of the Heroes. There were ways, including dark magic - forbidden practices only performed by experienced warlocks or cults like the Shadow Worshippers. But there was always that one shred of scripture that would fall into innocent hands, causing chaos within the world. This so happens to be one of those circumstances, involving an unsuspecting bandit and a little girl rising from the grave.

The reign of Lord Lucien had been ended by the four known Heroes of legend just weeks prior, and the blind seeress hid herself away from the eyes of Albions citizens and within the walls of the Tattered Spire. All had been quiet over the lands - and even the seas - until one particular day in spring had suddenly felt the chill of mischief on its winds. In the depths of the forested area along Brightwood, there had been an undergroud tomb that hadn't been disturbed for quite sometime, and a family of brown rabbits had been nesting there with their newly born offspring. One of the adults hopped around outside along the dirt covered path, nibbling on grass and flowers to fill its empty stomach, until it had stiffened due to an unfamiliar presence. It made a high pitched squeal to alert its family and to gather within the safety of the nest, but they had all scampered away and ran their separate ways into the forest.

Without a warning, a large dagger came down upon the adult rabbit who sounded the alert, piercing its flesh straight through as it cried out and twitched furiously. Its blood soaked the earth beneath it as a strange looking hand reached out and lifted the carcass. The hand itself looked eerie and oddly pale, scaly almost like a reptile and glowing red veins. The figure removed the weapon from the animal and wiped the dripping blood onto the side of their dingy pants, dropping the blade into the sack they carried over their shoulder. They wrapped the rabbit in a dirty black cloth, holding it firmly as they pulled down the hood that hid their face, which revealed to be a lean woman, dressed in dirt caked bandit clothing and two glowing red eyes. She walked over to where the rabbits had emerged from within the tomb, and lowly chanted some sort of spell in an ancient tongue, causing the heavy stone door to rumble and shift open.

The strange woman walked down and squeezed herself inside, the tomb being quite large despite the rather small opening, and she had walked up to the two large stone coffins, the lids depicting a woman and a child had been laid within them. The stranger flipped her long pale blonde hair over her shoulder as she neared the smallest coffin. "Time to wake, little Amelia." She cooed gently, her voice not as anyone would have guessed - more sensual and womanly than witch-like. Within her knapsack, she removed the dagger and a rather large jar of blood, then placed them onto the tomb floor beside her feet. One by one, she dug through her bag and retrieved several items, including dark colored candles and a scroll wrapped in red ribbon. Once the cover of the coffin had been removed, the woman set the candles in place of each corner on the edge, and lit them with just a snap of her fingers. The woman then lifted the beautifully carved dagger and dipped it within the jar, covering the entire blade, all while she began to mutter something quietly to herself, raising the dagger high above her head.

Her glowing eyes looked down at the mummified corpse of the girl, smiling crookedly as she noticed the dingy cloth she had been wrapped in, baring the Fairfax crest. "Poor thing." The woman said almost with meaning, then she forcefully brought the blade down into the girls chest while continuing her incantation. She removed her hands from the blade as she still whispered the ancient tongue, and noticed that the little girls skin began to grow back and turned a normal fleshy color, her hairs slowly sprouting out of her scalp that formed, back to it's beautiful golden hue. After a few moments, the girls body was as if she were only asleep, her breath returned and the heart beat strongly within her little chest, but the woman wasn't complete just yet. The girl's features son began to change, her body growing as if she had aged normally, finally appearing as if she had been nine years of age.

"In the name of the dark savior Skorm, Lord of the Underworld, may you rise from your slumber, Amelia Fairfax!" The woman bellowed within the dim candlelight, and the girl's large bright green eyes fluttered open. Her large orbs were instantly fixated on the woman standing above her, and the woman placed her hand gently onto Amelia's shoulder. "Hello Amelia." The blonde greeted gently.

Amelia laid there motionless momentarily, and took a deep breath, coughing wickedly. She sat up and felt as if her lungs were filled with dirt, coughing until she had felt she could breathe normally, taking as many deep inhales as she could. The stranger handed the young woman a canteen filled with fresh water, which the girl accepted without question, drinking it greedily. After a while of silence, the girl looked back up into the glowing red eyes of the woman before her. "W-who are you...?" She asked, her voice cracking.

"My name is Esmerelda," she replied with a large smile as she brushed her hair from her face, "I'm an old friend of your family, and I came to wake you."

"Wake me?" The girl repeated in confusion, then looked down at her hands as she wiggled her fingers. Her nails were perfectly trimmed and shiny, almost as if she was in a fairy tale where the darkness was unable to touch her. "Why was I asleep?"

Esmerelda smiled kindly and knelt down beside her and again placed her hand upon her shoulder. "Well technically you and your mother were terribly ill, sweetheart. You both...died, but I was able to start your heart again. Your mother did not make it, I'm sorry." The woman stroked the girls back in a comforting way, to be as sincere as possible. "I may be able to save her, but we have things to do before we can."

"What are those things?" Amelia asked, obviously interested in her plan. "We must save mother."

"First things first, we must reclaim your castle from that so called Hero of Bower Lake." She sneered at the thought of Little Sparrow being the goody goody Hero, but she quickly composed herself and smiled once again. "Your people need someone to show that the Fairfax bloodline has not died, and I will be there to help you for every step of the way, dear Amelia." Esmerelda grinned wickedly as the young girl looked around at the dark stone walls, and the woman had already formulated a plan to do exactly what she had wanted.

 **A/N: So this was just something a tad experimental to see how it would fare, and if it gets enough support, I will continue on with this little story, because it was kind of fun to write and definitely different from other Fable fics out there. Thanks for the read!**


End file.
